Miss Me ?

I know, I've abandoned my blog for quite a long time. I wonder and I'm curious to know that how many of you notice my dissapperance. Anyone of you start to miss me?? lol ~ ~

I've safely reached Hanoi on 24th Nov with my three kids for a long holiday here. I don't think I can share with all of you my cooking recipe for the time being but, I will try to update my blog with some interesting things, food or places that I have come through in Hanoi.

Please come back for my Hanoi trip post okay? and..., I really miss cooking and baking now!!

AMY

Sweet & Sour Pineapple Chicken - “菠萝鸡”

Anything that taste sweet & sour will sure boost my appetite. I love sweet & sour food so much. Yesterday, I cook my family's favourite Pineapple Chicken -“菠萝鸡”. We can't finish one pineapple as my kids they don't eat pineapple and end up cooking this dish for lunch. This dish is super yummy!!

It's very easy to cook and taste heavenly...trust me!!!

"Claire, you must try this ya :p ~"

Ingredients:

3 chicken drumsticks (weight approx. 500gm)
1/2 medium size pineapple (skinned & cut into small pieces)
2 red chillies (cut into 1cm pieces)
1 onion (cut into thin wedges)
2 tomatoes (cut into wedges)

some chopped garlic

Marinade:
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 egg
3 tbsp tapioca flour

Sauce:
1 tbsp chilli sauce (add more if you like it spicy)
3 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp sugar
50ml water (or canned pineapple juice)

Method:

• Clean chicken and remove the excessive fats on the chicken thighs. Cut it into smaller pieces. (I remove it's skin. However, it's up to your preference to retain the skin or remove it)
• Season with marinade ingredients for at least 30 mins (I marinade it overnight because I was in the rush of time). Deep-fry it in the hot oil until golden in colour. Remove from oil, drain well and set a side.
• Heat 1 tbsp of oil in the hot wok, add in the chopped garlic, onion wedges and stir-fry till it's fragrant.
• Add in sauce mixture and bring to boil. Add in fried chicken pieces, pineapple, red chillies and tomatoes. Stir-fry briskly until well combined.
• Thicken with the sauce with some constarch solutions (*optional - just omit this step if the sauce already thick).
• Dish up and serve warm with steamed rice.

p/s: Before dish up taste and slightly adjust the taste to your own liking. Add more sugar if you prefer it to be sweeter, more tomato sauce if you like it sourish or some salt if you like it salty.

AMY

Cool & Refreshing Guava Fruit

I bought some Guava fruit from the market today. I like the seedless Guava and eat them with the preserved plum and some chilli powder. Some of my friends told me, before eating the Guava fruit we must soak it in salt water for a longer time to get rid of the pesticide sprayed on it. Wash few times to make sure it is clean before we unskinned and slice it.

My model of the day. Please meet this 2 lovely Guava!!! hehe

Seedless Guava eaten with this seedless preserved plum are just GREAT.

To prepare this simple and yummy Guava Fruit, we need:

1 medium size seedless Guava (cut into thin slices)

4-5 seedless preserved Plum (cut it into thin stripes)

1/2 tsp chilli powder

Method:

Wash and slice the guava. Drain and place it in a big bowl.
Add in the plum stripes and chilli powder.
Stir to mix thoroughly. Transfer it to a smaller clean bowl.
Chill it in the fridge for 20 - 30 minutes before serving.

This is a real addictive snack. Once we eat this, we cannot stop it!! Try it out!

AMY

Sweet Cinnamon Raisins Bun

If sausage buns are my kids favourite then my favourite buns will be these "Sweet Cinnamon Raisins Bun". I just can't resist the sweet smell of Cinnamon all over my house when I bake it in oven. I like to have it with a cup of freshly brewed warm coffee and of course together with some girlfriends for our girly talks. That's how I describe a wonderful afternoon :) I baked Cinnamon Rolls before, at that time I just hand to knead the dough and it really takes me like whole life to get the dough elastic and ready. I didn't give up tho, but the texture of the buns sure cannot compare with the one knead with breadmaker, it's more fluffy and soft. The texture of the buns remain soft for the following 3 days.

I use the Basic Sweet Bun Recipe that I use for the Sausage Buns. Just follow the recipe there but omit the sausage and for it's filling I use ground cinnamon, brown sugar, raw sugar and raisins.

Ingredients for filling:
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon (add more if you prefer stronger cinnamon taste) + 2 tsp Brown Sugar + 1 tsp Raw Sugar + 2 tbsp Raisins (soak in warm water for 5-10mins, drained and dry it)

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients for filling in a small bowl.
• Weight the dough into 60gm small portion. Roll it into 2" x 5" rectangular shape.
• Spread the filling mixture evenly with the raisin evenly place on the dough and roll it up like spring roll.
• Cut it with scissors at the center of the roll up dough and fold it up. Place the dough (the cut surface face up) into the paper cup.
• Bake in the preheated oven at 180c for 12-15mins.

p/s: For more Cinnamon Bun Recipe or idea of it's filling. Please visit Kitchen Corner - Grace's Blog. I like her recipe of soak the raisins in RUM and the use of honey for the fillings. I will definitely try out her recipe soon!!!

AMY

Orange Poppy Seed Chiffon

Ya, chiffon cake again!! Among all the flavours, orange & pandan chiffon are my family's favourite. I got this idea from a friend of mine Ann-Ann by adding some poppy seeds to my orange chiffon. I like it when in every bite of the cottony soft cake there is this crunchy popping sound of poppy seeds. Those who haven't try this poppy seeds in chiffon shall try it now. I added 2 tablespoon of poppy seeds for this cake but it is not that visible after the cake was baked. I think I shall add another tablespoon in it when I bake the cake again next time.

I just added 2 tbsp of Poppy Seeds in the egg yolk mixture. You can add more like 3 tbsp if you like more poppy seeds in you cake. Please click HERE for the "Orange Chiffon Cake Recipe"

AMY

My Kid's Favourite Buns...

My kids have been bugging me again and again to bake them their favourite sausage buns. I was in rush to go out and just roll it up this simple way. The most common way we can always seen in the bakery. The recipe I use yield 10-12 sausage buns, they each ate one right after the pictures was taken and keep each for breakfast tomorrow morning. My elder daughter she will bring the bun to school and just drink a cup of Milo as her breakfast. She can't eat much early morning just like me.

Sausage Buns Recipe - (recipe using breadmaker)

Ingredients:

150ml Water + Egg (1 egg & add water till it reach 150ml)
100ml Fresh Milk (I use Dutch Lady Full Cream Milk)
320gm High Protein Flour (Bread Flour)
80gm Plain Flour
90gm Castor Sugar
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Instant Yeast
50gm Butter (softened to room temperature)
8 piece of Sausage (I prefer Ayamas brand)

Some roasted sesame seeds (optional)
egg yolk + milk (for brushing before baking)

Method:

• Put all the liquid ingredients into breadmaker pan.
• Add in the high protein & plain flour.
• At the center of the flour mixture, dig a small well (*not too deep) & place the yeast and cover it up.
• Add in sugar at the center and salt on it side.
• Select "DOUGH" function on the breadmaker and press "START" to start kneading.
• After about 5 mins of kneading, add in the softened butter cubes. Let it continue to knead for 20mins or till the dough are elastic.
• Let the dough proof either in the breadmaker or in a greased big mixing bowl for up to 1 1/2hrs.
• Punch to release the gas capture in the dough. Cut into smaller pieces.
• Flatten the dough before place the sausage and roll up it up.
• Rest the buns for further 15-20mins at warm place. Cover it up with cling wrap or place them in the air-tight container to prevent it dries up. The buns shall doubled up it's size.
• Brush it with egg+milk mixture & sprinkle some sesame seeds on the surface before bake it in preheated oven for 10-15mins at 180c*

HAPPY BAKING !

AMY

Homemade Pizza Again!!!

Hohoho~ I bake PIZZA for brunch (breakfast + lunch). Friday and Saturday are school holidays for those who stay in Alor Star and Perlis state. Normally, we (my kids + me) will wake up late and skipped our breakfast on that day. I wake up around 9am, not too late actually and got my laundry done and clean my house. Since it has been quite sometime that we last eat PIZZA and I decided to bake PIZZA for our brunch. I don't have to ask my kids about this as they sure LOVE IT!!

This time round I bake the pizza crust using just plain flour and wholemeal flour. Surprisingly, it turn out very yummy. I make two 10" pan pizza with sausage, mushrooms & canned pineapple as its topping (*sound boring right??, but these are my kid's favourite). I sprinkles it with a lot of parmesan & mozarella cheese. I LOVE CHEESE!!

My newly bought pizza cutter. Very convinient when cut the hot pizza.

Pizza Dough: Makes enough for two 10" pizza

250gm plain flour
50gm wholemeal flour
2 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
200gm warm milk (110f/43c)
80gm warm water (110f/43c)
3 tbsp olive oil/corn oil


Method:

Mix plain flour, wholemeat flour and yeast in a bowl. Add in sugar, salt and set aside.

In another smaller bowl mix milk, water and olive oil.

Pour it to the flour mixture slowly bit by bit and stir till it's well combined. The dough will be sticky at this time.

In a flat surface, dust your hand with some flour and slightly knead the dough for 2-3 minutes until it can forms a ball.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover it with cling film and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Remove the cling cover from the dough and punch the dough down so it deflates a bit.

Split the dough into 2 and roll it to the 10" round piece.

Let the dough rest for 5 mins and brush it with some olive oil before we top it with topping.


**You can refer to my previous PIZZA post for the topping idea. We can actually top it with any of our favourite toppings - onions, tomatoes, tuna fish, prawns, bacon, ham, etc... The sauce for pizza also plays the important roles in PIZZA making, make sure you get the right and yummy sauce and don't forget to add a lot of cheese on it.



HAPPY BAKING!!

AMY